What can I do to help you be more successful?” Clients may hear this question from salespeople, but have you ever asked this question to your vendor? We have all heard about the win-win buying and selling model, but when was the last time you had a meaningful discussion with your vendor to determine exactly what would constitute a win-win situation?
Asking about what the seller wants may seem counter intuitive when what you want is for them to do something for you. But starting the conversation focusing on them may be a way to eventually receive what can also be best for your company. Do not start this one-on-one talk at 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon or when you are desperate for a product to be drop shipped to your customer who is totally out of supplies. Make an appointment to talk about your business relationship.
Asking “What can I do to help you be more successful?” is more powerful if it is accomplished in person, such as over lunch or while sharing a cup of coffee if the vendor is local. Making an appointment to meet up at an industry event is also acceptable. It is best to have the time and place pre-planned. Do not settle for ‘Meet me at my booth.’ Have a pencil and paper available for note taking, and actually write out the ideas and comments that are made. Subconsciously, note taking always places a little more importance to any conversation.
If possible, by the end of the conversation, take the time to take a fresh piece of paper and enumerate the actual outcome of the conversation. Ideally, you will have a list of what you have committed to do for the vendor and reciprocally, what the vendor has committed to do for you. I always follow up with an email that recaps the conversation and the items we agreed upon. Any items that were discussed that were prefaced as being confidential or ‘off the record’ are never included in my email. I always thank the sales rep for their time and candid thoughts that were shared.
My objective is to have at least one face-to-face sit down conversation with each of my major vendors on a yearly basis. Before I take on a new vendor I prefer to talk with the same sales rep two or three times, because I want to see stability of the staff. When appropriate, my in- house IT person will check over their back-office structure to make sure it is compatible with our operating system and MPS interface software.
In most cases, having this conversation solidifies the current relationship. The open discussion allows you, the buyer, to have the seller build on the longtime relationship that already exists. It may be a wake-up call to the vendor to what is necessary to increase the business relationship. It may also be a reminder that you are one of their best long-term loyal customers and that you should be receiving a greater discount or a bigger box of birthday candy.
Following is a list of questions I may ask during our face-to-face talk. Some of these questions may appear to be rather personal or inappropriate to ask a vendor. I start each one-on-one conversation explaining my goal is to find out what motivates you and how my buying patterns may be able to help you personally. I explain they are free to not answer any questions that makes them feel uncomfortable or are inappropriate for our working relationship. I believe if we are going to be business partners, the more we understand each other’s motivation, the better off the working relationship can be and ultimately grow.
Questions I often ask include:
l Why should I do business with you and the company you represent?
l Can you name 3 of our top competitors in the industry?
l Where does my buying history volume rank among your other customers?
l Do you have the ability to waive or reduce freight costs?
l Can you provide free samples?
l How is customized pricing established within your company?
l Are you charged back for defective product returns?
l How long have you been in the industry?
l How long have you worked for the company?
l Why did you select this company to be your employer?
l How is your success within your company evaluated?
l Do you have the ability to earn monthly, quarterly, yearly bonuses?
l Do you have a company reimbursed expense account?
l Do you ever receive additional compensation on specific items from time to time?
l Are there times during the month or year that you need to sell a little more or less to make your quota?
l Do you receive commission on total revenue or on profitability?
My goal is to define the business needs and personal needs of the sales rep. Once I understand the playing field, we both have a better chance of building a mutually advantageous relationship that can remain balanced. Often when I start asking these questions I am referred to a supervisor, manager, VP or company owner. This is a shortcut to being able to deal directly with their decision maker. Additionally the staff knows you have a direct working relationship with the boss.
If you are just starting out with a new vendor, a comparable discussion can be made on a less familiar level. This is especially true when you are interviewing a company that may be providing supplies for your MPS clients. Getting to know one another and understanding the needs and expectations of both buyer and provider is essential. Dealing with a distributor or remanufacturer that is going to be entrusted with your customer list and has the responsibility of delivering the right supply at the right time and place is a large shift in the business model. Questions and expectations are part of the screening process.
People like to do business with people that they like. Characteristics of a great sales rep usually include being very likeable, truthful, flexible, and a great listener, as well as has the ability to read between the lines, understands your business needs and the current business climate, and realizes ‘no’ is an acceptable answer. Being able to share a bit of non-harmful and useful industry gossip to increase your knowledge is also a plus.
The previous mentioned attributes are also appealing qualities for the buyer. Yes, most of my purchase order and part numbers are physically input by a purchasing agent or parts person. But as the person most directly responsible for the Profit and Loss of the service department, I am the one who ultimately selects our vendors, makes the deals, reviews costs, and monitors usage.
Recent MPS statistics reveal up to 70% of the selling dealer’s cost of MPS printer agreements is for supplies. As head of the service department, I need to closely monitor how we buy, ship, manage and use our supply purchases. When dealing with a supplies distributor, there are multiple layers of competency required to acquire a consistently high quality product and have the infrastructure to be able to get the right product to our clients in a timely manner.
Whether you are dealing with CPC, MPS, inventory control or just keeping track of the supplies being used in your show room equipment; having someone acutely aware of the cost, usage and the buying process of the supplies used in the equipment you service is essential to the profitability and growth of your company.
